Knitting after the cat fight

Bob snogging my Sunday shoes

 

Grayzie scarfing some of dad’s Aurora apple

 

Wednesday Night Knitting met in the wake of Bob and Grayzie’s battle on the living room carpet, which left tufts of white hair flying around and sticking to everything, especially Grayzie’s mouth. Apparently they were “just playing” because no blood was shed and no blood-curdling moans and hisses were uttered.

 

It was great to see Debbie and Tricia and Kelly again! We missed Ethel, as she flew west to be with family members for her sister’s funeral.  We missed Lois, and continue to miss Tina (but thanks for the Facebook pic of giant knitting needles!)

Trish last year, working on the dish cloth

Kelly and Tricia

Kelly was working on an adorable Lorax hat (check out this one!)

Kelly and Lorax

Tricia was making a scarf in the same pattern and yarn as her dish cloth from a while back…

my er…not sure yet what it is…

I was working on what was supposed to be a little vest, but it’s so wrong. The problem is, I have a really hard time doing seed stitch; as you may be able to tell, it is a rib stitch, the opposite of a seed stitch. I was going to continue working it but Deb’s comments were sort of a wake-up call and I realize it will be a poor substitute for what I wanted it to be, so maybe it will be a doll blanket instead! I really despise working with this Sensations boucle yarn anyway. It isn’t soft, although it looks soft. Go figure!

I got this sample in the mail of Lizbeth 3 and 20 sizes of tatting yarn.

tatting yarn samples

I believe I found it on Facebook or Twitter but then I was unable to pull it up again or find it anywhere on my computer. It came from Handy Hands. The closest promotion I could find, in retrospect, for Lizbeth was on this page, for a thread holder with a sample ball included.

Deb worked on the blanket some more, and it is as beautiful as ever. Soft and gleaming!

Deb and Izzy’s blanket

We had fun hearing of her travels to Rhode Island, Boston, and Canada. Sounds like a great getaway!

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Knitting in the thick of things

Woo! Whirlwind of activity the past week! Even with all that, we got into some serious knitting Wednesday night!

Ethel's felted purse with I-cord handle

Ethel made progress on her purse, having added the I-cord handle and then felted the whole thing. “I made a 6-stitch I-cord, but then crocheted a rather thick chain and pulled it through the I-cord to strengthen it,” she said. Worked out very well, we thought. The pattern she had didn’t give any instructions so she came up with her own.

Coordinating fabric for purse lining

Deb showed us a finished sock prototype: the idea is to knit a mini of the project and see if you like the pattern and how it will look. The little sock is from all the same skein; it’s cleverly dyed in such a pattern as to form stripes when knitted up.

Deb and little sock

Then she worked on a sock for her own specific foot dimensions, but it started looking very much larger than her foot.

The sock that morphed into a hat

By the time the evening came to an end, the former sock became a cute baby hat with a ribbed edging!
Tina returned from her summer wanderings with goodies!

felted bracelets from NC

Tina's knitted kitchen cloth

Tina planning I-cord hot pad configuration

In her travels, Tina made the red and white knitted dish cloth, and showed two young relatives how to make it. She knitted a long, wide (12-stitch) I-cord, planning to felt it and wrap it like a hooked rug, to make a hot-pad.

Tina shared her knitting expertise with the two girls, who were around 9 or 10 years old, out of convenience: the girls knew how to knit, and wanted to knit on Tina’s project! Well, she promptly drove them to Wal-Mart so they could get the beginnings of their own stash! Do girls like to knit? If you don’t know the answer to that, ask a girl. Or better yet, knit while she is in the vicinity and see what she does.

Ethel also made a convert to knitting: her dentist! Ethel gave her a little instructional session after she got her teeth worked on. Maybe one day the knitting dentist will come to our group.

rolled garter stitch face cloth

scalloped edge face cloth

Meanwhile, I managed to get some face[cloth] time with cotton Sugar ‘n Cream yarn that is scented. One was just a mindless garter stitch to keep busy. The scalloped edge towel pattern is from a Let’s Knit Spring issue (the same one I got the Jilly doll pattern from).

I had an occasion to visit Ocala last week; we were meeting loved ones at Silver Springs and had a few minutes to spare. So I ran into ET Yarns in the Plaza. I wanted to get ANOTHER size 7 needle because the brand new bamboo set I bought in Jacksonville ($9, ouch!) ended up with one lost, the first day. Luckily ET, Erma Tardiff that is, has several canisters full of single needles of all sizes. She says she gets a lot of tourists passing through, who have lost a needle, hence her generous solution. I bought a couple of skeins of luscious autumn-colored worsted weight and one of Rozetti Marina, and she threw in the replacement needle free.

Yarn from ET

And, with every purchase of $10 you qualify to get an old leaflet or booklet of knitting patterns from a box under the cash register table. I ended up with some moldy oldy vintage stuff that looks like it will be fun to pore over! She gave me her email address and said she would send me a pattern for the Marina, or I can find one on the Internet. Marina looks like one of those ruffle yarns pictured in the new August edition of Yarnworks‘ newsletter. I can see these ruffle scarves enjoying a wonderful popularity in fall and winter!

Vintage freebie patterns from ET

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Will work [with yarn] for Food!

MMMmmm, we had a delicious meeting, a pleasure to the taste buds as well as to the delicate  sensibilities of the needle art aficionadas! Ethel showed her finished ruffle scarf, and is working on a matching sweater to go with it.

Ethel's knitted ruffle scarf

A more colorful view

In the mean time, she is starting on socks in a very comfortable acrylic and nylon yarn (sorry, I didn’t get a photo of that one) in variegated colors.

And she worked up a cotton dish cloth in the “bee” stitch, which I’ve seen on the internet described as “knitting into the stitch below.” Beautiful, and interesting! Lots of OOOH’s and AHHH’s!

Ethel's Bee stitch dish cloth

Lois' double layer hot pad

Lois brought hot pad a friend had given her. Lois said the double layer pad was very well-used; when she first got it, it was very plushy. I’m not sure what fibers were used in the yarn–cotton? Wool? We talked about it later and decided it is done in a tight single-crochet stitch. The variegated yarn makes it hard to see the little stitches.

Tricia working on purple scarf

Tricia continued on with the purple heather scarf, adding quite a few inches. It matches her outfit.

Newcomer Tina brought her knitting loom to show us, and it was a sensation! She used a thick khaki-colored wool for loom-made mittens. These nifty looms come in different sizes, thanks to the creative people who dreamed them up!

Tina looming a second mitten

Tina had a cool flexible ruler to measure the size of the stitches, and a padded pick tool to weave the yarn in and out of the loom’s posts. She says she’s not really fond of purling on the loom. Does anybody really like to purl?

Beth back at the beginning

Beth started over, having recently become a secret devotee of Dishcloth Makers Anonymous [ “My name is ____ and yes, I love dish cloths.”]

Funny: the beginner project books always start you out on dish cloths. I rejected that as a project because I don’t want my dear dish cloth, over which I had lovingly labored, to touch the residue of egg yolk, refried beans, etc. from the bottom of the sink. Yeccch!

But now, I want to make a dish cloth so badly.

And I’m afraid that the YO’s are going to get me.

Lisa finished her hat. She came over apologizing for not bringing anything to work on. But then she went into the kitchen with Tiffany and made some snacks. We told her, thanks for bringing food, in that case we don’t expect you to work, too.

Lisa and Tiffany whipping up salsa in the kitchen

The cool thing she brought was a mango-corer. You know how that great big pit in the mango is so hard to carve around? Problem solved:

The mango corer thingy

Beth's yummy chocolates

Beth also brought some delectable treats: the chocolates are made with cake mix, water, and canned pumpkin. And they are delish! Melt in your mouth!  She brought some cream cheese frosting to spread on them.

Pepper, onion, lime juice, mango salsa

Beth got a corner done

While Tiffany unraveled hers

Tina's progress on the mitten

The burgeoning blanket

The engineer spouse says I can only milk the time spent on the crocheted blanket just a little while longer, then I’ll have to get on with the knitting. Sigh.  Ethel would agree with him, I think.

I was going to put a little video I made of Ethel and Lois, but yikes, I see that I would have to add the video upgrade at a cost of $59.

Maybe I can make it a YouTube and just insert a link. I’ll work on it—:)

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The Dishcloth Maven and other stories

 

Tiffany with two more

 

Remember last week when Tiffany finished her first ever knitting project, the red and white dish cloth? She has already done two more perfect ones! She chose Sugar and Spice cotton yarn.  Her knitting is so even and consistent, she is well on her way to achieving greatness in the arena of dish cloth construction.  She inspired Teresita to go for a dish cloth, too:

 

Tiff and Tere, talking "dish cloths"

 

You may notice some food on the buffet in back of them. We never really know if anyone is going to bring snacks, and tonight turned out to be a real bonanza! Lisa brought a coconut-crusted lime cream tart, Tiffany brought crackers and Raspberry-Habanero and Pineapple-rum topped cream cheese dip, and Ethel brought dark chocolate and almond-drenched gourmet biscotti to share. Can I get a “MMMM”? Heavenly food, heavenly pastime. Except for having to count (stitches and/or calories and/or carbs.)

Ethel introduced us to her new crochet venture:

 

Crochet components

The Vine

 

 

 

A crocheted scarf that looks like a vine, with flowers!

 

What a fresh idea; I’ve got to get to work on one as soon as I finish  my current several projects…

 

Ethel helped me on my little “idiot square” (I heard Tiffany utter this phrase and decided it’s an appropriate description of one of my projects) with the eyelets made by K1, K2 together, YO and repeat. Maybe I’ll have a pic of it soon and won’t be re-doing it dozens of times this week like I did last week…

Lois finished her Fair-Isle hat and started on a new one, but she wouldn’t let me take a picture of it yet. She’s so fast, she might be finished before next week.

Jenina learning to crochet

 

Jenina wanted to learn how to crochet, so Ethel started her off with the basics.  The basics in crochet probably means granny square. And she said, “You don’t have to count stitches. Just look at it and decide what is right.” Granny squares in pink baby yarn are much cuter than, say, granny squares in forest green or gray yarn. You know I’m telling the truth here. Everyone probably has an old afghan in the linen closet that features yellow, red, forest green, and gray yarn, if they didn’t already sell it for $1 at a yard sale. But pink baby yarn, it’s so luscious!

 

Lisa making hat in the round

Lisa noticed that the hat she had started was unraveling for some reason, so she started over. She finished the teddy bear hat she was working on just a few days before the baby it was intended for was born. And before she left tonight she had at least three inches of new hat done already. AND she gave me a book of crochet projects that can each be done within 24 hours. Very cool projects that inspire hope in my jaded heart of crocheting ability!

 

 

The main thing is to HAVE FUN!

 

Talking, laughing, eating, knitting, crocheting, and DANCING–will dancing have a slot on our upcoming agenda? 🙂

 

 

 

 

 

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